View GarageJust finished rebuilding a rag joint for a friend and thought I'd share a little info on how I go about it. Costs next to nothing, if you don't value your time of course...
First step is to drill and/or grind the original riveted pins out, preferably without damaging the remaining pieces. Not interesting enough for pics.
The rubber part is heavy duty reinforced conveyor belt - the reinforcing layers aren't quite the same as factory (offset to one side) but if you look close at the reproductions and rebuild kits available its identical to what they use. A little careful layout with a compass and ruler, use a sharp punch to make the holes and touch up the outer edge on the bench grinder to get a nice finish!
I like to make my own bolts to hold everything together, you can get a much nicer fit and have the appropriate shoulder built in without additional pieces. First thing is to find some raw stock in the scrap bin - waste not, want not! Each grade 8 3/4" bolt contains enough valuable material to make two custom bolts.
There is some good metal hiding in there under the accumulated rust, just need to whittle away the parts not required.
The parts that are required. Two have the additional safety lugs built into the bolt head with same dimensions as the originals, better than a chunk of thread hanging out there as with some kits.
This shows how the hard shoulders are all built into the bolt, ensuring a touch of compression on the rubber but not too much and no room for anything to move. The section that goes into the yoke is an interference fit, the nuts will pull it in tight against the shoulder and significant force will be required to remove again. The nylocs are really just for show.
Parts cleaned up, re-assembled and ready for use.
